Happily Ever After?
by KayleighBeth
Summary: Happily ever after, the three words which ends each fairytale, but who ever said it truly was a happy ending?


**A/N: With this story I planned to retell the classic fairytale Cinderella in the point of view of the prince. Please feel free to review and constructive criticism is well appreciated.**

**Also currently this is a one-shot, though may consider using this idea as a long story.**

Prince Charming stood staring at his reflection in the mirror, and shooed away the maid who was brushing any imperfections away from his outfit. She was just getting in the way of him being able to look at himself in the mirror. He placed his hand on his chin, thinking.

"The cut doesn't show off my assets." He complained turning towards the male stylist who stood beside a rail full of different outfits, "Next one!" The maid placed her brush on a table before walking over to Prince Charming and helped him remove his jacket.

"But Prince we have no more suits left for you to try on." The stylist said as he began to panic. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly discoloured and worn white handkerchief, and patted around his face, removing the sweat of stress.

"Well then you better get making a new one." The Prince merely replied, "The ball is tonight, and I refuse to have myself embarrassed due to your incompetence."

"Yes Prince." The stylist said as he bowed down and rushed out of the room, pushing the rack along with him.

The maid reached in front of the Prince unbuttoning the shirt. Her face turning a shade of red as her hand came in contact to his bare abs. As soon as it became apprant to the Prince, instantly his usual cocky smirk took place upon his face.

* * *

The Prince stood upon the balcony, staring out towards the ballroom, full of the different coloured dresses dancing around the room. The day had certainly been filled with disappointment today. His stylist came up with another 'poor' suit, however it was the best of the selection, and now Prince Charming looked around the ballroom to all the young ladies and their mothers in front of them, none of which managed to catch his eye.

One half of the ballroom he had already 'played' with and grown rather tired of and the other half he would not dare be seen with due to their imperfect looks.

"Father this was a mistake!" He complained, "Each of these girls are not good enough to even be in the palace, yet you expect one of them to have such the privilege to stand by my side as my wife." Prince Charming turned to look at his father who stood by his side.

"Charming, you have no option. I have given you time to find yourself a wife, and now you must do this my way." The King replied, "Now go downstairs and meet these women." The thought of meeting the women made Charming cringe. They weren't like him, they were all poor, and they were commoners."

Prince Charming stood at the top of the stairs as the trumpets began playing for his entrance. All eyes turned into his direction. The young girls practically fainting at being so close to him. As he descended the stairs, he watched as all the mothers critised how their daughters looked or stood, one mother even licked her finger and wiped a bit of dirt from her daughters face. But all faces held smiles. It was rare that he was able to walk in a room and not see such false expressions of happiness. Many were of course attracted to his undeniable beauty, but none actually wanted him for him. He knew that all the girls here wished to be Princesses, deluded into such a fantasy from their bedtime stories. Though he must now give them credit for their dreams, one of them would actually become his wife, and in due time Queen. Well if they survived that long, he thoughts, chuckling to him.

"Ladies, Welcome to my families palace." He announced the room completely silent so all could hear. "I will be dancing with one girl per minute; this will be done in alphabetical order." The room turned into squeals and whines as the news was announced.

"Elizabeth Adams." One of the guards announced reading from a list. A small girl about the age of 14 stepped forward from the crowd of females. She wore her white blonde hair in ringlets, and her sky blue dress complimented her eyes. She curtsied to the Prince as she stood at the bottom of the stairs in front of him. The Prince stepped forward offering his hand, which she took with delight.

"Marie Honet." The guard announced. The Prince stopped dancing and let go of the girls hand, Jane he thinks she was called, as another girl walked over towards him. He was tired and worn out already having danced for an awfully long time with such boring people. Either the girls wished to talk about fashion or practically force him into doing all the talking.

"Hello my Prince." She greeted, and curtsied. Prince Charming grabbed her hand and instantly went into the fox trot. He could feel everyone's eyes upon him and many of the girls stood in a circle watching with envy.

After one lap of the circle of people, Prince Charming stopped and let go of the girl's hand. He turned towards the entrance stairs, watching as girl stumbled down in a gorgeous white dress and a pair of glass slippers upon her feet. He was absolutely mesmerized by such a beautiful young woman. He walked away from the lady and made his way through the crowds, ignoring the protests from Marie.

He reached the young lady as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Would you care to dance?" He asked the lady, holding his hand out.

"Urm," She replied, her eyes frantically glancing around the room, "Urm, yes of course my Prince." Before she quickly curtsied and taking his hand. He guided her back into the middle of the dance floor where Marie still stood, but now tears rolling down her face.

"What is your name?" The Prince asked.

"Cinderella, my Prince." Cinderella answered. The Prince smiled, thinking of how obedient she sounded, she would definitely make a wonderful wife.

The Prince and Cinderella spun around the dance hall. People slowly dispersing, and girls crying into their mother's shoulder. Over an hour the Prince had been dancing with a single girl, and of course under the watchful eye of his very please father.

"Cinderella, my darling. May I ask who your parents are?" The Prince asked, of course concerned in only status. He watched as her mouth opened yet no sound left it. She glanced over to the clock, looking slightly annoyed yet relieved.

*Ding*

"Sorry I must go." She apologised, pulling from Prince Charming's grip.

*Ding*

"Wait what?" The Prince asked as she walked towards the stairs.

*Ding*

He ran towards her and grabbed onto her arm.

*Ding*

"Sorry." She whispered

*Ding*

She leant forward placing a kiss upon his cheek.

*Ding*

She pulled her arm from his grasp.

*Ding*

She began running up the stairs in panic.

*Ding*

The Prince runs forward trying to catch up with her, surprised at her speed.

*Ding*

She glances back, picking up her speed. Her glass slippers falling from her foot, hitting against the stairs as it fell and stopped as it reached the Princes leg.

*Ding*

He looked up.

*Ding*

She was gone.

*Ding*

* * *

*Ding*

*Ding*

The sound of the clock striking midnight from the night before sounded in the Princes head, pulling him from a deep slumber. He was surprised to find himself still in his chair, in the front of his desk. His concentration turned to the glass slipper which still sat in his hand. He turned it around, carefully taking in every little detail, almost scared to forget the memories he felt. Could he of called it love? He slightly hoped not. He had always considered that he was the kind of person never to feel an emotion he related with the weak. He more of lusted after the mysterious woman. He didn't know who she was, he didn't know anything about her, the only clue he had was the slipper. It kind of made him want her much more. But what he liked most about her, was she was so different to all the others he had woken up next to in bed. She didn't practically throw herself to his feet, she didn't fake who she was in his presence, she was simply natural.

"Jarad!" The Prince shouted, within seconds the double door opened and his personal manservant walked into the room.

"My Prince." Jarad greeted, as he bowed at the waist, remembering to keep his gaze to the ground.

"I want the owner of this shoe found and bought straight to the palace." The Prince ordered, and carefully handed the slipper to Jarads outstretched gloved hand.

"The girl from last night, Prince?" Jarad asked curiously. The Prince felt slightly irritated by the question, he knew the gossip on all the palace workers lips would be about him and the woman from last night, he even believed that his family would be discussing it between one another.

"That is hardly the business of someone such as you." The Prince spat, screwing up his face with disgust as he looked up towards his man-servant. Jarad silently scolded himself before scurrying out the room to carry out his task.

* * *

"My Prince." The Prince was pulled from his train of thought, and turned from the window he had been aimlessly staring out of. "The young lady is now in the foyer." The Prince nodded his head in a signal of thanks before making his way through the tangle of hallways of the palace. He paid little attention to his surroundings, ignoring the bows and curtsies of the workers, and even his own fathers attempts to start a conversation.

He descended down the main staircase, and saw a glimpse of the young lady from behind one of the palace guards.

"My Prince." Jarad said, drawing the attention of the people in the room towards him. A smirk spread across his face and the guard moved out-of-the-way, no longer blocking the view of the girl. He was half pleased and half disgusted by the lady stood at the bottom of the stairs with a small smile across her face. She was far from what he had expected to see. She wasn't as beautiful as he remembered, instead she stood dressed in what appeared to be a second-hand dress, which was covered in specs of dirt, the hem was beginning to fray and her shoes simply consisted of literally nothing. Part of him questioned whether this truly was the girl he met, yet the smile said it all, it was enough to send almost any man into a wild form of delirium, it was enchanting. Though all he found himself able to think about was how much amusing his little game would become.

"Cinderella, how wonderful it is to see you again." This time it was his time to bow at the waist, he grabbed hold of her petit hand and brought it towards his puckered up lips.

"It is such a pleasure to be allowed to make your acquaintance once again." She replied. He could tell part of her was rather shy, as if she was ashamed by what she wore, and how it showed that she wasn't the usual woman he would 'entertain', breaking her sprit truly was going to be fun.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


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